


Achievement Unlocked

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: MiraculousFluffMonth 2017 [29]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Identity Reveal, Support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 10:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11941902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Ladybug decides it's time to share Alya's proposal about helping both of them.  At the same time, Nino has shown up at Alya's for an unexpected conversation about her new superhero support duties.





	Achievement Unlocked

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel piece to "In the Line of Fire," and will probably make most sense if you read that first. It is also Miraculous Fluff month's Aug 29 prompt, I do.

"There's something I need to tell you," Ladybug said, landing next to Chat Noir in tonight's meeting place, the Arc de Triomphe.

"Oh.  That sounds serious," he said, his ears and tail at the alert.  "Are you okay?"

Smiling a hesitantly, she nodded.  "Yeah.  It's… it's not an ideal situation, but it's okay.  I've… come to terms with it."

"Uh, that sounds really serious."  He sighed and sat down, crossing his legs and patting the spot across from him.  "I've got some news to share too, but I may hold off if yours is more than enough for one night."

She folded herself down with a sigh.  This was much harder than she was expecting it would be.  To admit that she'd somehow screwed up, and someone knew her identity was bad.  That he wasn't the first to know it… it left a yawning pit of guilt in her belly.

"Hey, it's okay, you know that, right?" he asked gently, one hand reaching out to rest on her knee.  With nearly any other guy, it would have been creepy or weird, but not with him.  He was always respectful of her space, though their relationship had grown very tactile over time.

"I messed up, Kitty," she mumbled.  Oh god, she was totally going to cry.  "And I'm afraid this is going to hurt your feelings.  But I swear it wasn't on purpose."

"Oh, hey," he said softly, pulling her into his lap, and settling her over one thigh.  "It can't be all bad, right?  It's not like someone found out who you are."

She gasped.

He went still.  "Oh," he whispered.  "Someone found out?"

"I'm so sorry!"  She wrapped her arms around herself, waiting for the anger.

Instead, his arms wrapped around her, holding her close enough to rest his chin atop her head.  "Are you safe?  That's the most important thing.  Will they keep your secret?"

She nodded.  He was too good.  All this time, he'd wanted to know who she was, and honestly when it came down to reveals, he was at the top of the list for deserving to know.  Someone else knew first, and his primary concern was her safety.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured.  "I know this is the most important thing to you.  You've been so careful.  But it's going to be okay.  I'll do everything in my power to help, okay?"

"You're... t-too g-good to me, Kitty," she stammered, though his kindness was helping her get under control.  "And sh-she wants to h-help y-you too."

"The person who knows?" he asked.

"Yeah."  She sniffled and nodded again.  "She's my best friend.  She's kind of been my assistant the last two akuma battles and she said she'd be happy to help you, too.  She had some pretty good arguments for it."

Chat leaned back so he could smile at her.  "It's funny you should mention that."

* * *

Alya opened the apartment door and quietly ushered Nino into her room.  She wasn't sure what to expect when her boyfriend texted her around nine thirty, telling her he needed to talk to her in person  **right now** .  She half expected him to be distraught over a family emergency or something, but he wasn't.  Nino wasn't prone to fits of exaggeration or hyperbole, and she wondered what was going on.

"Hey," she said quietly.  "What's up?  What's with the cryptic text and urgent talk?"

He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, then gestured to her desk and bed.  "You're going to need to sit down for this."

"Oh."  She dropped to the bed, looking up at him.  "What's wrong?"

"You may want to grab your screaming pillow."  He pointed to the small round pillow Marinette had made for her two years ago.

"Are you moving away or something awful?" she asked, hesitating as she reached for the pillow.

He shook his head.  "Nothing awful, but I'm not saying anything until you have that thing at the ready.  I don't want your papa offering me to his panther as a treat."

"He wouldn't," she said, not really thinking as she grabbed the pillow.  "Ok.  Out with it.  Just rip off that band aid."  She preferred to get all her bad news and revelations over with quickly.  It helped her see the bigger picture than having it fed to her in bits.

"You're Ladybug's Alfred," he said.  "You're helping her at akuma battles, carrying food for her kwami, and coming up with excuses for her random absences."

Alya gasped, staring at him.  She knew Nino was crazy smart.  She'd been dating him for nearly two years and had seen his test scores, his papers, and his music practice.  Not too many people knew he played four instruments in addition to the digital stuff and DJ turntable skills that he showed off more readily.  "How…"

"Good job with the anxiety disorder.  Fucking brilliant really."  He smiled at her.  "But I'd expect no less."

That was all so painfully specific.  He knew more than just a piece of the puzzle.  He'd assembled the entire five thousand piece puzzle without her realizing he was even working on it.  "Oh god.  You know who she is…" she whispered.

"Well yeah.  It's stupidly obvious now that I know.  Kind of surprised it took 'til today to figure it out."  He shrugged and sat down beside her.

"You realize you can't tell anyone, right?" she demanded.  She would do whatever it took to protect her best friend.  Nino's hand settled onto her shoulder, soothing her.

"No need to get worked up mama bear."  He smirked at her.  "I would never give that secret out.  I'm an ally."

"How did you figure it out?  Did I mess something up?"  Oh crap.  Marinette would never forgive her if she'd fucked up already.

"You guys came to class late, which could be overlooked, especially with that excuse you used," he admitted.  "But Marinette was fidgeting; she said something about being hungry.  You offered her camembert, great choice by the way."  He shot her a finger gun.  "But she wouldn't take the cheese.  God that stuff stinks.  I had cookies and we swapped."  He shook his head  Marinette didn't need those for herself, because she didn't eat them.  She put them in her purse."

* * *

"What do you mean?" Ladybug looked at him, puzzled, her face still streaked with tears.

He set his thumbs to work cleaning up her face.  "My best friend recently revealed that he's known I was Chat for… roughly two years," he explained.  "I will freely admit I had a full on panic attack when he called me Mr. Noir."  God he was lucky Nino was that friend.  "He's keeping the secret, and has been helping me out with first aid, mid-battle kwami snacks, and excuses for my absences the last few attacks."

"Oh," she sounded a little shell-shocked.  "I'm glad there's someone helping you, too."  She shook her head a little, something he'd seen her do when she needed to get her head back in the game.  "The first aid… that's a great idea."

He nodded.  Now that her cheeks were dry, he slipped his arm around her shoulders, careful to be comforting, not restraining.  "He's been making small batches of his mom's special chocolate chip cookie recipe to make sure he has a few of those on hand at all times, just in case."

"Wait, is that where you got me those when I needed to recharge?" she asked.

He nodded.  "Yeah.  It didn't seem the right time to tell you, though.  I kinda needed to get to a place of acceptance first."  He suspected Nino was trying to wingman his friend's super crush.

"I suppose... I mean, I did the same thing," she admitted.

"Anyway, my friend, he wanted me to let you know that he totally gets your concerns about identity, and that he's happy to act as your support too."  He shrugged.  "It's been really handy.  And maybe having two support folks would be even better.  That way if one can't make it, the other can help us both."

She let out a shaky breath.  "Good points.  And I guess, he's already doing it, really."

Chat Noir nodded.  "I could bring him by for you to meet next patrol, or we could set something up.  I mean, maybe we should have both our friends meet, too.  They could share their ideas and their kit set up, since you don't have a first aid kit, but I bet your friend has ideas Nino didn't think of."

Ladybug gasped and stiffened, nearly falling off his lap.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking around for anything that could have hurt or upset her.  "What's wrong?"

"Did you say, Nino?" she asked. 

He nodded, wondering if there was something wrong with that.  "Nino Lahiffe.  He's my best friend."

"Oh fuck," she muttered.

She didn't swear much, so when it happened, it was worth noting.  "Uhm… what?  Do you know him?"

Her hands grasped his face and she stared intently at him.  "Adrien?"  Her voice was a cross between a shriek and a squeak.  It was also appallingly familiar.

"Uhm… how did you do that?  You know Nino, don't you."  Dammit.  He'd really messed this up.

She let go of his face, but didn't scramble away as he half expected.  "My best friend, my support person is Alya Césaire," she said in a slightly trembly voice.  "Nino's girlfriend."

"Marinette?!"  Her name burst out of him.  He didn't even have to think it through, it just seemed so right. 

She wiggled her fingers at him.  "Hey Adrien.  I hope Tikki isn't too mad about this."

His face hurt from the size of his smile.  "I don't care."

"You should," Ladybug… no, Marinette said.  "She's totally got the I'm-superior-to-you thing down when she thinks you're wrong."

"My Lady is my Princess," he said, happily.  "I think I get get through anything with that knowledge."

She let out a shaky sigh.  "All right then, do you think we should take on Alya and Nino as our support crew, then?"

He nodded.  "I do."

* * *

Nino watched as his girlfriend finally pulled her pillow to her face to let out an unholy scream, thankfully muffled.  "It's okay, babe."  He rubbed her back lightly.  "Honestly, this makes everything so much easier."

Still holding the pillow ready, she met his eyes.  "What do you mean?"

"I can't name any names, but I've known who Chat Noir is for years."  He held up a hand to keep her questions at bay.  "It wasn't my place to spill those beans, still isn't, actually.  So I'm not going to tell you, but I have no doubt you'll know in a minute just from what I can tell you."  He smiled.  "It just so happens that I entered a similar arrangement with my bro Chat a couple weeks back.  It was ridiculous to keep pretending I didn't know, and with how bad some of those fights go, I really wanted to provide more significant backup."

Her eyes went wide.  "You didn't go to those emergency response classes in case I got in trouble in an attack," she whispered.  "It was a brilliant cover, but that wasn't your real reason."

"It wasn't the primary reason," he admitted.  "But it  **was** a factor."  He shrugged.  "I worry about you sometimes out there, but you've gotten better about being safe.   **He** gets thrown face-first into walls, the Seine, flaming buildings…"  He paused and shuddered.  "I'm pretty sure he's died several times."  That was one of the harder things to face.  Looking back on old battle footage, he could name several where Chat had thrown himself in front of Ladybug and she'd finished the battle alone and hella pissed.  "Anything I can do to help is worth it."

"Are you okay?" Alya asked, looping her arm through his.  "You just… you looked really worried there for a moment."

He nodded.  "I'm okay, but yeah, I worry.  He's a self-sacrificing idiot, and he doesn't get nearly enough love.  And it..."  He sighed heavily.  "It breaks my heart."

"Oh!"  She dropped her pillow, covering her mouth with the hand that had been holding it.  "It's Adrien."

He chuckled.  "Gee Al, what makes you say that?"

"Oh my god.  Like he  **needed** anything else on top of that shit schedule his shit father has for him?" she demanded.  She was getting worked up, and he needed to defuse her anger if he didn't want her parents to come barging in.

"But he's awesome at it, Al.  Who else could do it?"  He'd asked himself the same question over and over.  If Adrien wasn't Chat Noir, who was really worthy of taking up that mantle?  His best friend cared so much and so deeply.  He had a fierce sense of justice.  Who would he trust with that power of massive destruction?  "In talking to Plagg, uhm his kwami, the power of the black cat needs to be held by someone with compassion or really bad things happen."

"Really bad things?" Alya asked.  "Like what?"

"The Black Plague is apparently the most recent instance of a black cat holder who was… the wrong choice."  His conversations with Plagg had been fascinating, and a little terrifying.  He was reasonably sure the little kwami hadn't told Adrien half this stuff.

Alya stared at him, apparently speechless for once.  He wasn't surprised.  That had been a particularly revolting revelation for him, too.

"Anyway, when I realized you were helping out our favorite bug while I was taking care of our favorite cat, I thought maybe we should join forces, share our ideas, come up with a plan to make sure we can be there for both of them."  This was the real reason he'd come over.  "We work great as a team, and I think we could really make a difference."

"You're not wrong."  She grinned and nudged him with her shoulder.

"So do you think this is a plan you can get behind?" he asked, knowing the answer and holding out a fist.

She bumped his fist with hers.  "I do."

**Author's Note:**

> Did this in two 30 minute speed writes, because wrapping this up was going to require all four POV characters, and while I write fast, I don't write THAT fast.
> 
> This is currently the last in the I See You series, but I could see coming back to it at a later date when I've wrapped up my Miraculous Big Bang project and the Bobbin Bug sequel.
> 
> I'm also over on tumblr, so feel free to stop by and visit if you'd like. My content is multi-fandom, with a lot of ML. http://freedom-shamrock.tumblr.com


End file.
